The Planet of the Damned
by goosewillis
Summary: A deadly virus has turned Beaumonde into a Reaver infested paradise. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory seek the help of the crew of the Serenity in order to save the people of Beaumonde and stop the virus from spreading.


The Planet of the Damned

Preface: In an alternate timeline in which the events of the "Serenity" storyline did not take place. River Tam is still plagued with her insanity brought on by her tortue. Hoban Washburne aka "Wash" is still alive and piloting the Serenity.

The ship Serenity is orbiting the planet of Beaumonde, the manufacturing hub of the 'verse. The ship's pilot Wash has been trying to contact their man Randy on the planets surface for three hours without success. In fact he hasn't picked up anything but static from the planet.

"Anything yet?" Asks ships captain Malcolm Reynolds.

"Nothing but static captain," replies Wash, "This is weird right? There are no broadcasts coming from planet at all."

"Well it might be just that everyone took the day off" replies Mal, smiling while he says it, "We should go down and take a look."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," says an unknown voice from behind.

Down on the planet's surface the streets are littered with garbage. Buildings are ablaze, but no one is attempting to put out the fires. In fact there is no one on the streets at all. The only sounds come from the still active advertising displays who now advertise for no one.

Back on the ship the captain has his pistol drawn, pointing it at the mysterious man who has just appeared on his ship.

"Who in the hell are you?" asks Mal.

The mysterious man cracks a wide smile and says "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

The Doctor cracks an even wider smile. "Just the Doctor."

"Alllright just the Doctor, how and why are you on my ship?"

"Well funny story it is, I needed a place to land because the surface of the planet is in pretty bad shape right now so I landed on the nearest thing I could."

"You landed on my ship?" Mal asks, pistol still pointed right at the Doctor.

"Not as much on it as in it." says the Doctor.

All the while Wash is just sitting there staring at the Doctor. Mal leans over to the ship communicator and calls for his second in command Zoë.

"Hey Zoë would you mind checking the.." He pauses, "Where's your ship at?"

"Oh I believe your cargo bay" the Doctor replies.

"Yeah would you mind checking the cargo bay for a ship please?"

"A ship?" Zoë asks.

"Mhmm yep a ship." says Mal.

"Captain, I assure you my companions and I mean you no harm you can lower your weapon."

"Companions?"

Moments later the entire crew of the Serenity has heard that they have visitors on board and have gathered in the cargo bay around a odd looking blue box. Everyone looks puzzled.

"So how exactly is this a ship? Its just a box that says po-leece on it." says the brutish Jayne.

"Its called a TARDIS and trust me its quite a ship."

"TARDIS? I thought those were just a myth" replies Kaylee, the ships mechanic.

The Doctor then opens the door to his blue box. Inside are various controls in a room that is much larger than the outside of the box. A man and a woman stand just in the door.

"Wo de ma.." exclaims Mal

"What was that? The TARDIS translation circuits must be malfunctioning"

"How is it bigger on the inside?" Jayne exclaims.

"Well its Timelord science, but we really don't have time to talk about it. Anyways this is Rory and Amy." The Doctor says pointing at the people inside his TARDIS, "And we need your help to save Beaumonde."

"What do you mean save Beaumonde?" Mal asks.

"The details are a bit fuzzy but from what but from what we know some sort of virus has broken out and now everyone on the planet are Reavers."

"Ta ma dei." exclaims Wash.

"You said it sweetheart." replies Zoë

"Aint no ruttin way I'm going down there." pipes in Jayne

"How do you know its Reavers?"

The Doctor looks as if he's miles away, thinking deeply about another matter.

"Doctor!" Amy says trying to bring him back to the conversation. "We really need to get to work if we're gonna make it in time."

"What do you mean make it in time?" asks Mal.

Back from his journey into his own head the Doctor replies, "This isn't the first planet we've come across that has had its population turned into Reavers, its the third, and each time its been worst and worst. It seems as though someone has created a virus that makes the victim insane to the point that they become a Reaver, only they haven't perfected it yet and everyone on the last planets died after 72 hours of exposure."

"How can we stop it?"

"Well I've made an anti virus that I think will work, the only problem is that I have no idea how to release it into the air." explains the Doctor.

"Make new air." says a mousy voice from above.

The crew looks up to see River Tam laying on the rafter above.

"Who's this little one?" asks the Doctor.

River climbs down from above and starts to circle the Doctor, staring at him, poking him.

"This is my sister River." replies Simon Tam.

"Hello, River. I know a girl named River too."

"She's not a girl she's a lady." responds River.

With a perplexed look on his face the Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver and points it at River. It glows green and makes a funny noise. This alarms the crew and they all point their weapons at the Doctor, he quickly throws up his arms.

"Not a weapon, just a screwdriver." he shouts. "And she is not just a girl, she's a psychic."

"And you aren't a man." giggles River.

Everyone glances at the Doctor and he simply shrugs.

"What did you mean make new air River?" asks the Doctor

"The Terraforming machines."

"Ahhh thats brilliant, if we put the anti virus into the machines and turn them on they will distribute it into the atmosphere."

"Yes, this is a great plan with one obvious hole in it." says Mal.

"What's that?" replies the Doctor.

"The planet full of crazed Reavers, who at a seconds chance will kill us and eat us."

"Ah yes well you see Captain Reynolds, this is where you and your crew come in. I can easily get the anti virus into the machines but staying alive might be somewhat tricky. What I need is protection from murder and dismemberment long enough to finish my task. What do you say?"

"I say what's in it for us?" Jayne says.

"Jayne, we have to save these people some of them are our friends, right Captain?" Kaylee asks.

"I reckon we should, but I don't want to put me or mine into harms way without your assurance that this will work." says Mal.

"It will work, trust me, I'm the Doctor."

An hour later the Serenity has landed on the roof of an industrial complex. Mal and the Doctor have worked out that the old Terraforming devices must have been stored somewhere in the lower depths of the complex. The only problem is they don't specifically know where.

"Okay, Amy, I want you to stay here with Wash, Kaylee, and River. Rory, unfortunately we are going to need an extra gun hand down here just in case." says the Doctor.

"What happened to no guns Doctor?" asks Amy.

"Listen darlin, I don't know if you have ever come cross a Reaver before, but trust me, if we want to get this done without anyone dying, we're gonna need these guns." Mal says with what seems to be a terrified look in his eye.

"He's right Amy, there really is no other way."

The group sets out in search of the Terraforming device in the complex. In all there is the Doctor, the Captain, Rory, Jayne, Simon, the Shepherd, and Zoë. They enter as silently and stealthily as they can, no one wants to have to deal with the Reavers at all, even though they know its just a matter of time before they are found out.

They break into three groups, the Doctor and Mal, Rory and Simon and Jayne, and Zoë and shepherd Book.

"Why exactly are we breaking into groups?" asks Simon.

"Well doctor..." Mal starts to say and then turns to the Doctor, "Well Simon, because we need to get this done before the Reavers find and eat us and if we break into groups we can find the machine quicker."

"Shiny, lets just get this done." says Jayne.

After two hours of searching the tunnels the Doctor grows somewhat panicked, time is running out.

"Captain, I didn't want to say anything before but, according to my calculations we have only 45 minutes before that 72 hour threshold is over and who knows what this new strand of the virus will do to the hosts."

"What do you mean?"

"Either they will all die, or something far worse will happen.

Just as the Doctor finishes saying this they hear gunfire and screaming. Jayne and Simon come around a corner carrying Rory, he's bleeding profusely from the abdomen and is missing several fingers.

"MAL RUN." yells Jayne as they approach.

The five men begin to run down what seems like a maze of tunnels. They have no idea where they are going and how they will find the machine. With the Reavers in hot pursuit behind them they have no time to stop and worry about this. They take a left down a corridor, only to find it covered in blood. Mal gets on his communicator.

"Zoë, Book, are you alright?"

All he hears is static.

Shepherd, Zoë, can you hear me?"

A Reaver turns a corner and Mal shoots him several times. Blood goes flying all over the Doctor.

"This was my favorite bowtie." he exclaims.

All of the sudden there is a voice on the other end of the communicator. It's Zoë.

"Captain we found the machine, its down corridor XB11."

Mal looks up and sees a sign "XB8", they are close.

"Sit tight, we'll be there in a sec, oh and be expecting some company."

The group is reunited in a large storage room, they quickly shut the door behind them just before the Reavers reach it. The Doctor uses his Sonic Screwdriver to seal it.

"Alright, that will hold them but not for long."

In the corner Jayne and Simon have laid Rory down, he's pale and still losing blood.

"Rory, how is Rory?" asks the Doctor.

"He's lost a lot of blood, this wound is too much for me to deal with right here. We have to get back soon or he will die." says Simon.

Without another word the Doctor goes over to the ancient looking machine, he crawls inside and begins to fiddle with the buttons. The rest of the group is standing facing the door, which has been oddly silent.

"Why aint they trying to get in, it aint like Reavers to give up." says Jayne.

"You're right Jayne, somethings off."

They glance around the rest of the large room, its dark, dank, and eerie. Out of no where Book is hit from behind with a club and knocked unconscious, the group turns to look but the assailant is gone before they can shoot. Out of the darkness comes a primal scream followed by the sound of running footsteps.

"Get ready people here they come." Yells mal.

They begin to open fire in every direction with the hope of slowing down the onslaught. The sound of gunfire and bodies hitting the ground fills the room. Then without warning the roof to the room opens and the floor begins to shake.

"I believe its time to go." says the Doctor who has reappeared out of the machine.

They grab Book and Rory and hop onto the large machine as it begins to rise from the floor, still shooting anyone who gets close. From out of no where a Reaver stands behind the Doctor, blade in hand. He thrusts the blade into his back just as Mal aims his pistol and pulls the trigger. The doctor screams in agony as this happens. Mal goes to his side.

"Hey hey, you're gonna be alright." he says to the Doctor

"That really hurt and I very well might be dying, take this." The doctor hands his Sonic over to Mal. "Press the button when the light inside turns red and thats it."

"What if it doesn't work?" asks Mal, but the Doctor passes out from the pain.

Hours later the Doctor wakes up in the medical bay of Serenity. He is still in a great deal of pain, for some reason his body isn't regenerating as usual, but most of his wounds have healed. To his left is Rory, he is unconscious but alive. To his right is River, sitting quietly just staring at the Doctor.

"Where is everyone?" asks the Doctor.

River remains silent.

"River are you alright?"

"I know who you are Doctor, I know what you've done." she says.

"River, listen to me, it's very important that you do not tell anyone." He says.

She just smiles and gently glides out of the room. Moments later Simon and Mal come in to check on the two of them.

"Your friends is going to be alright Doctor, it just may take some time for him to recover." Says Simon.

"Did it work? Is everyone OK?" asks the Doctor?

"Well I done pushed your screwdriver thing and the terraforming device did the rest. Everyone is fine, but we had to leave in a mighty hurry, Alliance showed up." says Mal. "But from what we saw before we left it was working."

Later in the cargo bay most of the crew once more is gathered. Kaylee walks out of the TARDIS door with the Doctor, they are talking about the mechanics of the machine. Amy is fending off advances from Jayne while Rory looks on bandaged up and assuring Zoë that Amy can handle herself with the brute of a man.

"So Doctor I guess you'll be on your way then" says Mal.

"Yes yes, better take these two home, I think they've had enough of the space travel for a while." replies the Doctor.

The two men shake hands and exchange nods. The rest of the crew waves as the three enter the TARDIS and right before their eyes the blue box vanishes into thin air. Just then Simon comes running into the cargo bay.

"Has anyone seen River? I looked in her room and she's not there." he says.

On Earth the Doctor has taken Amy and Rory home, their time adventuring with him is done, at least for now. They say their goodbyes and he promises to return soon. Back in the TARDIS and somewhere in space and time the Doctor rests his back on the control panel.

"You can come out now I know you're there." he says.

River pops her head out from under under the control panel array.

"Can you help me? Can you find a way to make it stop?" she asks.

"Of course I can, I'm the Doctor."

THE END.


End file.
